App Defaults

🚧 UNDER MAINTENANCE 🚧

Mid 2026 Edition

I used to rely mostly on Apple software, but since Tim Cook personally donated $1 million to Trump’s 2025 presidential inaugural committee and Apple gifted Trump a custom glass plaque mounted on a 24-karat gold base during a White House visit, I've been looking for alternatives so that my data is not hostage to one company. Sorry to bring this up, but Santa Claus doesn't exist, and there is no billion-plus-dollar good company.

On this list I try to show where the software is developed, and despite the fact that most of my data is unfortunately hosted in the USA, there are some exceptions:

  • Fastmail: Netherlands with failover in the USA

  • Raindrop.io and Bitwarden: EU

  • Synology: At my home in England with HyperBackup enabled with another Synology in Portugal

I think this is a useful awareness exercise in these difficult geopolitical times.

Other people have also shared their Default Apps inspired by the Podcast Hemispheric Views 097 - Duel of the DefaultsClick here to see the complete list.

Productivity

Email, Calendar and Contacts Server

iCloud
Fastmail 🇦🇺

Fastmail is fantastic! I use custom domains, and I like to have control over which email I share with which websites, so I use masked emails a lot. This helps me identify if I can trust the sender as well. I moved to Fastmail two years ago, after having enough of iCloud and its broken search. Nobody likes email, and I would prefer not to pay for it, but the time I need it most is in the middle of a conversation or a problem I need to solve, and I need some old email buried somewhere, and iCloud/Apple Mail could never find anything for me. It was a very frustrating relationship.

Email Client

Apple Mail
Fastmail 🇦🇺

The Fastmail app works well and is feature-rich, but it's not native, so it doesn't run as smoothly. I don't have any hopes that one day they will release a native app like Bitwarden did, so I rest my hopes on Mimestream to release a version compatible with JMAP, the email protocol created by the team behind Fastmail.

Calendar Client

Fastmail 🇦🇺
Apple Calendar 🇺🇸

Personally, I don't need any advanced calendar features, and I don't schedule things all the time, so the Calendar in the Fastmail app or Apple Calendar are more than enough for me.

Contacts Client

Fastmail 🇦🇺
Apple Contacts 🇺🇸

Like the calendar, the same applies to contact management.

To-Do

Personal: Things 🇩🇪
Family: Todoist 🇺🇸

Notes

Personal: Bear
Personal: Obsidian
Family: Apple Notes 🇺🇸
Scribble: GoodNotes 🇬🇧🇭🇰
Quick Notes: Iconfactory Tot 🇺🇸

Text Editor

Microsoft Visual Studio Code 🇺🇸

A bazooka to shoot an ant, but it does the job well when I need to edit config files, and etc.

Word Processing and

Apple Pages 🇺🇸

Just because I have a Mac and the user interface is nicer than the other options.

Spreadsheets

Apple Numbers 🇺🇸

Other spreadsheet apps should follow the floating tables of Numbers. It is so much nicer than the antiquated full-size table used in Excel and other spreadsheet apps.

Budgeting and Personal Finance

Monzo Bank 🇬🇧
Apple Numbers 🇺🇸
Bobby

Mind Maps

MindNode 🇩🇪

Diagramming

draw.io 🇬🇧🇨🇭

Typing Assistant

Grammarly 🇺🇦🇺🇸

Font Management

iFont
Iconfactory Fontcase 🇺🇸

I am not sure why in 2026 we still need this kind of app to manage fonts on iOS and iPadOS

Cloud File Storage

Personal and family: Synology Drive 🇹🇼
Sharing with parents: Apple iCloud Drive 🇺🇸

Web

Browser

Apple Safari 
Vivaldi
Desktop and iPad: Google Chrome 🇺🇸 
Secondary: Zen 🇪🇸
Mobile: Quiche Browser 🇯🇵

Bookmarks and Read It Later

Apple Safari and its Reading List
Goodlinks
Raindrop.io 🇰🇿

Chat

Apple Messages 🇺🇸
Signal 🇺🇸
Meta WhatsApp 🇺🇸

Media

Music

Player: Plexamp 🏠
Discovery: MusicHarbor 🇧🇷 and Qobuz 🇫🇷

Photo Management

Synology Photos 🇹🇼
Apple Photos 🇺🇸

My wife uses Apple Photos as an everything repository. I tried to move her to Synology Photos, but that didn't work. So I am still paying for iCloud+ because of it, and I end up using Apple Photos as an easy way to share photos between my wife and me.

Photo Shooting

Apple Camera 🇺🇸

Podcasts

Overcast
Pocket Casts 🇦🇺🇺🇸

RSS and Social Media

RSS and Social Media: Iconfactory Tapestry 🇺🇸
Mastodon and BlueSky: Indigo 🇨🇦🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Privacy and Security

VPN

Proton VPN
IVPN 🇬🇮
Tailscale 🇨🇦

DNS

NextDNS 🇺🇸

This is my gatekeeper at home and when connected to Tailscale. It keeps the madness that is smart appliances, apps and websites contacting everything everywhere. My log is something from another planet, and I can’t recommend more than that you have something like NextDNS set up in our home network.

Password Management

Apple Passwords
1Password
Bitwarden 🇺🇸

1Password is my original password manager. After many years and the release of 1Password 8 revolt, I moved to Apple Passwords. I was all in on the Apple ecosystem. Unfortunately, that didn't work well for me. I've found the application very slow (I had almost 1k entries), and at the time I had multiple issues generating new passwords and losing them. The very bad third-party browser extension was also a big problem. So after three years, I moved back to 1Password. Since you can't be happy with your tech choices for long (reason, explanation, another great blog post, and an article from The Verge), I am moving to Bitwarden, and thankfully I can move all my passkeys from 1Password to Bitwarden via their mobile apps.

Others

Maps

Apple Maps
Google Maps 🇺🇸

I've always tried to use Apple Maps, always reported issues and etc. Unfortunately, I judge it dangerous. It shows traffic lights where they don't exist, and sometimes where there is a roundabout. Not to mention when there is a roundabout, but Apple Maps doesn't show it. It should be great in the US, but in the UK it is rubbish. I don't want to try stuff with my life, so I chose Google Maps.

Mac Utilities

Downie
CleanMyMac
CleanShot
CleanupBuddy
PDF Expert
Pixel Perfect
Soulver

Mac App Launcher

Alfred

Mac Menu Bar

Supercharge
Secret Inbox
Amphetamine
AlDente
Menu Bar Spacing